


I think that possibly, maybe I'm falling for you

by sheriffandsteel



Category: Archie Comics, Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, First Meetings, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:34:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23858407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheriffandsteel/pseuds/sheriffandsteel
Summary: Going to the Southside was supposed to be a one time thing. But after meeting a pink haired barista Cheryl suddenly finds it harder to stay away than it is to go back.
Relationships: Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Comments: 6
Kudos: 86





	I think that possibly, maybe I'm falling for you

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Landon Pigg's 'Falling in love at a coffee shop'.

To say that Southside Steam was not Cheryl’s scene was a bit of an understatement. For starters, it was on the Southside, a part of Riverdale that Cheryl very rarely graced with her presence. Equally as important to her mind was its decidedly terrible name. She hated places that used their location in their name like their patrons were suddenly going to forget where to find them. And the ‘steam’ part? Add that to its location and it sounded more likely to be a strip club than a coffeehouse. Cheryl was not a fan of baseball and as such she did not follow the ‘three strikes and you’re out’ motif so either of these strikes (or the several others she had noticed within the first two seconds she saw the place including but not limited to: the graffiti on the walls, the open mic night flyer in the window and the bulletin board to the left of the front door with postings for ‘guitar player wanted!’ and rooms for rent) were enough to make her never want to set foot in the place. 

But a dare was a dare and Cheryl never backed down from one. 

Smoothing nonexistent wrinkles from her red dress Cheryl resisted the urge to wipe her hands off again after she pulled open the door. She’d half expected the door handle to be sticky. She didn’t bother to hide her grimace as a bell rung as the door opened. She hated it when places put things on doors to announce people’s entrances. She was Cheryl ‘Bombshell’ Blossom, she didn’t need any help in letting her presence be known. 

Case in point, the entire (surprisingly large) patronage of the coffeehouse turning to look in the direction of the door as the bell sounded. Cheryl kept her eyes on the counter, not bothering to give any of these people the opportunity to look into her eyes, as she gave an expertly applied hair flip. She hadn’t spent most of her middle school years perfecting that move to not use it when eyes were already on her. 

There was no line at the counter for which she was grateful, she didn’t want to spend one minute in here longer than she had too. Someone of importance might actually see her, although she supposed that was kind of the point. 

“What are you in the mood for today?” a melodious voice asked and Cheryl took her eyes off the chalkboard menu (yet another strike, honestly what was the point of counting anymore?) to look at the girl behind the counter. She was strikingly gorgeous even in spite of (or perhaps because of) her pink hair. Cheryl had to admire the choice; it was a look she was certain not even she could pull off if she were ever to do the world such a disservice as to dye her hair. 

“Something sweet and bold.” Cheryl said, scanning the menu again and seeing nothing that jumped out at her. “Surprise me?” Normally she would never allow someone (especially a stranger, especially a Southside one) to provide her something for her body that she did not know every last ingredient too but something about the girl’s eyes made her feel safe enough to do so. There was yet another chalkboard sign beside the register with the ‘staff suggestion’ for something called a virgin mazagran. Cheryl pointed to the offending sign with her nose wrinkled, “Not that.” 

“Don’t worry, I know just the thing for you Red.” the girl, _Toni_ Cheryl read her name-tag before she turned away, smiled knowingly like she really did have the perfect drink ready after Cheryl’s vague request. 

With no interest in scanning the rest of the coffeehouse’s idea of what passed as décor Cheryl instead spent her time waiting for her drink by watching the barista work. She was surprised by the amount of things she put into the blender, but Cheryl liked frilly extravagant drinks so she didn’t mind. She was just mildly surprised the girl could tell from just one look at her. 

At least something in this building was nice to look at and Cheryl watched curiously as the girl poured the blended beverage into a cup before writing down something on it, Cheryl assumed it was the list of ingredients in case she were to ever come back in and ask her to make it again. (Not that Cheryl had any plans on ever coming back into this hovel no matter how pretty this girl was.) 

“That’ll be four-fifty.” Toni smiled as Cheryl passed her her credit card and took the drink off the counter. She couldn’t place all the flavors right away but it was decidedly delicious. “How is it?” 

“Delightful.” Cheryl purred, laying it on thick as she smiled at the girl around the straw. While she usually only flirted as a way to get people to do things for her Cheryl almost felt like she wanted to get Toni to blush at the bedroom eyes she was giving her. She was a tad bit disappointed when she didn’t get the reaction she was expecting. 

“I’m glad.” Toni smiled again and it was so easy and carefree that Cheryl found herself smiling back genuinely as she took her card back. 

It wasn’t until she was back in her car that she looked at the cup to see what Toni had written there. 

_A red drink for the lady in Red :)_

For the second time in as many minutes Cheryl smiled a real smile. 

It was supposed to be a onetime thing. 

They had been playing Truth or Dare at Ginger’s sleepover and of course the ungrateful worm dared Cheryl to go to the Southside and purchase something in full daylight. Just as Ginger had suspected (Cheryl would say planned but she didn’t think her ‘friend’ wise enough to actually make a plan let alone follow it through) it was the talk of Pembrooke Academy the following Monday. 

It was a common case of someone who knew someone who knew someone who saw Cheryl. It was altogether incredibly boring and not even the least bit the most exciting bit of gossip about Cheryl since she had come out last year. But considering that she played everything in her life close to her chest and was usually the gossiper and not the gossipee Cheryl let them talk and spin their tales about why on earth the Queen Bee of the North was slumming it down in the South. She made sure to dress in her best clothes on Monday, spider brooch on prominent display and thigh high red leather boots on. Cheryl was a big believer that if you are going to be looked at all day while people talked about you, you might as well give them something good to look at. 

Cheryl’s Southside sip was old news before school was out Monday as _someone_ caught two of their classmates making out in the chemistry lab and decided to anonymously text the pair’s significant others (who were very much not the ones in the chem lab) a picture of said triste. 

Her little journey to the wrong side of the tracks would have gone on being forgotten, not even worthy enough to be brought up as an honorable mention in the greatest hits of gossip that year, had that been the end of it. 

That should have been the end of it. 

But Cheryl was so used to people being afraid of her, of forcing her every smile and calculating her every move, that she could not let go of the thought of the girl who had managed to coax not one but _two_ real smiles out of her in a manner of minutes. 

Cheryl was a lot of things but no one would ever say that she was someone who let things go easily. 

So, the following Sunday when the Southside Steam opened for business Cheryl was the first customer through the door. 

The offending bell announced her entrance and Toni looked up from the counter she was wiping down, her lips stretching into a surprised smile as she spotted Cheryl. 

“Have you already had coffee this morning?” she asked curiously, looking her up and down as Cheryl reached the counter. 

“No, why?” Cheryl asked, unsure if this was something Toni usually inquired of her customers. 

“I could never look that good without caffeine in my bloodstream.” Toni admitted with a shake of her head. 

An unfamiliar heat of pleasure washed over Cheryl at Toni’s words and for one of the few times in her life she felt her redheaded genes betray her and a blush form on her skin. She might have gone to a little extra care when she got dressed that morning but to be fair, she put a lot of care into every outfit she wore so it wasn’t like she did anything special for Toni. 

“Then you must have caffeine in your bloodstream all the time.” Cheryl replied, not nearly as smooth as she normally would have, as she looked the other girl up and down. Toni caught her doing so and grinned in response. Finding it hard to look at the other girl suddenly after such obvious flirting Cheryl looked at the staff suggestion board and rose her eyebrows at the words _‘candy corn frap’_. 

“What monster came up with that idea?” Cheryl asked with a shudder at the very thought. 

Toni laughed at that and Cheryl found herself smiling already. The sound of her laugh was even lovelier than her voice. 

“Sweet Pea. He likes drinks as sweet as his name.” Toni rolled her eyes at this and Cheryl knew without her having to say that she was repeating something that her coworker likely said a lot. 

“Remind me not to come here when he’s working.” Cheryl sniffed, as if she would ever have any intention of coming here when Toni wasn’t there. If she ever came back at all that was. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe.” Toni assured her, leaning forward on her elbows as she whispered conspiratorially. 

Cheryl placed her hand demurely over her heart as she pretended to swoon, “My savior.” 

Toni smiled and leaned back as the bell on the door informed them, they were no longer alone. “Feel like being surprised again? No candy corn, promise.” Toni made an ‘x’ over her heart and Cheryl smiled in response. 

“Thrill me Toni.” Cheryl advised watching her make the drink with the smile that came so easily around her. 

Without meaning too her Sunday mornings soon fell to such a routine. She woke up as early as she did on a school day to dress with unequivocal care before sneaking out to her car so she did not have to explain herself to Mother (who would never let her go to the Southside) or Jason (who would tease her about her crush mercilessly) and driving across town to the coffee shop to be their first customer. Every morning her and Toni talked and flirted until another customer came in, at which point Toni would make her a special drink that was somehow always more delicious than the last and write something cute on her cup before Cheryl left. 

She was half tempted to wash out the cups and save them but she didn’t dare in case her mother found them while snooping. Instead Cheryl had a whole folder on her phone of photos of the cups and their sayings. They felt like an inside joke and it had been so long that Cheryl was on the inside of one of those that she didn’t even mind the downside that having it came with. 

For the first time in her life she had been in the gossip mill for more than an afternoon. She was the talk of Pembrooke Academy, the cause of those whispered conversations and locker room theories and the subject of those fleeting sideways looks in the hallway. 

No one was brave enough to say the gossip directly to her face of course but Cheryl had ears, she knew what they were saying about her. Each rumor she heard was more absurd and ridiculous than the rest. She had heard that she was plotting to buy the land the café stood on, that she was actually working there, that she had a secret Southside lover who didn’t drink coffee so she stopped to get some on her walk of shame home. Not a single rumor came anywhere even close to the truth. 

Cheryl had found someone who could make her smile and who she could make smile in return. It really was as simple as that. 

But gossip never survived on simple, and certainly never on truth. 

The problem was that Toni was fairly unknowable to her. 

They didn’t live on the same side of town, they didn’t go to the same school, Cheryl knew none of Toni’s friends or acquaintances. Even stalking her Instagram didn’t shine any light on Cheryl’s all-consuming question if Toni even liked girls. 

Cheryl may have been out for over a year now but in that time, she had only been on two dates, neither of whom she had asked the other girl to go on. She was used to being drooled over, to being hit on and admired. She was an asked, not an asker. She didn’t know what it was about Toni that caused so much of the things she thought about herself to be unshakable truths to shake but she found sometimes that she didn’t mind it. 

Other times, like in the case of asking to see her somewhere other than a coffeehouse that had yet to grow on Cheryl despite its lovely employee, she minded it very much. She had tried everything she could think of, short of actually asking Toni out, but nothing seemed to work the way she wanted it too. 

“What’s this?” Toni asked in surprise as Cheryl placed a small red gift bag on the counter one crisp Sunday morning. 

“A present mon cherie.” Cheryl said with a dismissive wave of her hand like it was nothing even though her heart was pounding in her chest with nerves. 

“It's not my birthday or anything.” Toni said, looking up at her with brows wrinkled in confusion. 

“Since when does there need to be an occasion to give a gift?” Cheryl huffed, lightly pushing the bag across the counter towards the other girl. “Open it.” 

Toni gave her a look Cheryl couldn’t quite decipher before she slowly opened the gift bag, her brow furrowing further as she saw the object inside but after she lifted it out and read the saying engraved on it her features smoothed out and she smiled so widely Cheryl’s breath caught in her throat. 

“This is so sweet Cheryl.” Toni gushed, looking up from the pink coffee mug Cheryl had custom made engraved with the words _‘both a Topaz and a gem’_. 

“You always leave me such sweet notes I felt bad that I wasn’t leaving you with any.” Cheryl ran her fingers over the edge of the counter as she tried to sound nonchalant. She had worried over the wording for weeks before placing the order. She’d wanted to say something about how much Toni meant to her but she didn’t want to call her ‘a gem of a friend’ and have Toni think that was all she wanted her to be. 

“This is wonderful, I’m going to use it all the time.” Toni assured her, holding the mug against her chest with one hand as she reached her free hand across the counter to where Cheryl’s fingers were still tapping on the wood. Her fingers immediately went still when Toni placed her hand on top of hers and squeezed her palm lightly. “Thank you.” 

Looking into her eyes Cheryl wanted nothing more than to lean across the counter and kiss her but she contented herself to turning her hand to squeeze Toni’s back as she spoke, “You’re welcome.” Deciding it was finally time to take the plunge Cheryl opened her mouth to ask Toni to join her for dinner the next weekend but before she could get any of the words out that damn bell rung out and crushed Cheryl's courage with it. 

She wasn’t sure which of the two of them was the more stubborn or the more patient and they likely would have both gone on for months waiting for the other to make the first move if it had been up to Cheryl. When it came to matters of her heart she didn’t like to jump unless she knew where she was going to land and she didn’t make any decision without thinking through the consequences obsessively. So, if it had been up to her their causal flirting would have gone on until the winter snow melted and likely even longer than that. 

Luckily for her Toni wasn’t quite as patient. 

“You never read the sign anymore.” Toni remarked casually one blustery Sunday morning as Cheryl rubbed her cold fingers together. 

“Why would I? Your coworkers' taste is appalling and you make me such exquisite things.” Cheryl smiled at her and marveled yet again at how good Toni managed to look while wearing flannel. 

“Yeah but I wrote the suggestion this morning.” Toni admitted, tilting the sign so Cheryl could have a better view of it. 

“Oh? What do you suggest for your lovely patrons to...” Cheryl’s amused tone trailed off as she read the chalkboard sign between Toni’s hands. 

_Staff suggestion: you, me, La Petite Pan 6pm Saturday_

“Well I certainly hope you don’t suggest that to all your customers.” Cheryl remarked in surprise before looking up at Toni who rolled her eyes in response before looking at Cheryl earnestly. 

“Cheryl.” Toni sighed before biting her lip and looking up at her nervously. 

“You’re asking me on a date?” Cheryl asked. For someone usually so confident she felt like she needed a lot of assurances when Toni was concerned. 

Luckily Toni seemed to sense that because the earnest look on her face didn’t even waver as she replied, “Yes.” 

“Of course, I accept.” Cheryl said quickly, realizing that her surprise might be showing as disinterest. She just hadn’t been prepared for this to happen today. She'd begun to tell herself it wasn't going to happen at all. 

“You are quite a bit braver than me.” Cheryl admitted sheepishly, leaning closer to Toni over the counter. “I have been wanting to ask you out for weeks now but was unable to work up the courage.” 

“Am I that intimidating?” Toni asked with a sly grin as she leaned against the counter. 

“Yes.” Cheryl agreed immediately, surprised that Toni didn’t know the affect she had on her. It was incredibly off putting to Cheryl who used to consider herself quite fearless until she’d met the pink haired girl. Something about her made Cheryl feel vulnerable and the more she was around her the deeper that feeling grew. She was finding she quite liked it though. 

Still, as excited as she was for their upcoming date and as thrilled as Cheryl was that Toni had asked her out she felt that she could not take the next step forward with Toni without telling her the truth, just in case the matter ever came up again. 

“There is something you should know about me before we form any kind of romantic relationship.” Cheryl informed Toni, reaching forward to clasp her hands in hers lightly. 

“What is it?” Toni asked, her eyes filling with worry at the seriousness in Cheryl’s voice. Cheryl wondered if she could feel her heartbeat speeding up just from the touch of her skin. 

“I absolutely detest chalkboards.” Cheryl admitted in a whisper glaring down at the offending item propped between them. Even the sweetest words with the promise of their upcoming date wasn't enough to make Cheryl like the board with its white chalky powder just waiting to rub off on some unsuspecting person's skin.

Toni laughed so loudly at the look on her face that they didn’t hear the bell announcing the next customer. 

Once it became known that Cheryl was in a relationship with a Southsider the gossip and rumors about her fell to a halt. It was only fun to talk about people when you didn’t know what they were doing and Cheryl so happily flaunted her new girlfriend that no one felt the need to talk about it anymore. She never did learn to like Southside Steam but it was the location where she met the woman she knew was the love of her life so the coffeehouse did have a little special place in Cheryl’s heart. 

Not that she had any intention of ever letting anyone know that of course.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr at lumierelalune


End file.
